No news is good news

Whatever happens with Woody, he is not going to just get suddenly better one day and come home. No, the best way he can go about life is just to get a little bigger and a little healthier every day, which obviously presents some challenges to me, both from a parental and an authorship perspective. On the one hand, I think it's outstanding that every day doesn't have the cloud of 'he might not make it through the night' again, like we genuinely felt a couple of times in the first weeks. On the other hand, it's frustrating to come in to his room for the forty-sixth consecutive day and still see an ET tube in his throat.

Similarly, it used to be that I'd wait until late in the day to post something about his condition when I was concerned about what he was doing and wanted to wait until I had some good news, but now more often than not Woody's condition is about the same as the day before (eating, sleeping, pooping) and there just isn't something really compelling to talk about as it relates to him, so I'll just go ahead and write about how much the three-year-olds in the waiting room, singing songs from The Lion King at full throat is annoying. As a completely made up example, for instance.*

After weeks of asking her, Maggie has now agreed to contribute some of her thoughts here too. I thought she was going to write something today, but she wanted to make sure she "edited" it and didn't "just write something half-cocked" or something. I certainly don't know what her problem is; I barely even edit my impetuous postings.

Woody continues to get more and more feedings. He was increased to 15q2 today, which now officially means he's getting more milk than Maggie can produce. Because of the head start, however, we have a pretty good supply before he will need to be supplemented with formula. I continue to think that his vent settings look better than ever, and I am beginning to expect that they will attempt extubation in the next two to three weeks (that is based entirely on my speculative reading of his improvement, mind you, and not what the doctors have told me).

One final note. On Friday I mentioned something about making fun of Maggie and nursing her 'mechanical child.' It occurred to me later that a casual reader of the site might think that I was referring to Woody, and think me an asshole. Au contraire! I was actually talking about The Symphony Lactina, the dreaded pump that Maggie has to use.

*This isn't annoying, it's just puzzling. I overheard a guy the other day talking about his new son, who he named after a prominent local hockey player. The last name of the prominent local hockey player. Who is Slovakian. Who is, I must point out, likely to leave the team in the next few years due to free agency. There is going to be some serious schadenfreude then, I assure you.